Chapter 93: Terrors of the Seas
beast_regards
[Censored]
- Location
- Valid Location
I watched Ari disappearing into the rift the 'Warpstalkers' had opened for her.
The 'crazy girl', as I once called her, was quickly growing to become a sorceress in her own right, I realised.
She couldn't replicate the barrier the humans used against us - likely because she lacked the formal training, or experience - but she certainly had magical powers. Blood magic, I suspected, wasn't the usual way the abilities manifested among the natives, but it has become more than obvious that Ari quickly became one of us, rather than remain of the humans born of this land.
I wasn't certain if it was a good thing, in the larger picture, but it certainly showed promise.
We could grant powers!
Albeit it wasn't exactly the same as the powers the human priestesses had, but it was, at the very least, the closest alternative we could manage, through the use of the 'fruits of arcane' as I dubbed the glowing, spiky produce.
I didn't plan to refer to Ari as a priestess, let alone my priestess - unlike the 'Lady' I wasn't interested in playing a god - but I couldn't deny the results.
We could, if Ari was any indicator, grant instantaneous knowledge of our language, all but removing the communication barrier there has been since our day one in this accursed world. All erased in nothing but a few seconds.
There hardly could be mistranslations this way, could there?
Would it, however, be enough to change the natives' behaviour?
For a while, I stood there, thinking, while Tama leaned closer, wrapping me up in their arms, and her fluffy fails, almost as if she wanted to assure me that she would always be on, and by, my side.
Miwah, too, stepped closer, protective as always, though her armour separated me from her softness and warmth, depriving me of a comfortable lean. I welcomed it, either way.
My 'personal Displacer' - or Kasha, as she has been freshly named - hung on me as well, not to be outdone by her larger, older, and significantly curvier cousins. She doesn't seem as prone to wander off as her sisters frequently did, and insisted she would stay. At least I could sense her intention through the link.
It almost invited the question if humans could be as comfortable with us as we were with each other and …
…there was this pesky thought about whether I was a human, whether memories of Earth I still held were even valid …
It was confusing, distracting even.
The girls found the idea of me being human laughable.
I still stared into space, or rather, the rubble of the ruined shrine, with its collapsed roof, shattered statues and broken wooden beams left in the wake of the Lady's rampage, now a silent milestone of progress.
Kuma sat down, picking through the rubble to pass the time, and absorbing the metal she found among the debris, though it was obvious she did so because of boredom rather than an interest in any gold or precious metals that might be there.
We weren't particularly interested in money, not if there weren't any places to spend them in. None that would do business with us rather than just forking over goods in terror, anyway.
Some of my girls, namely the 'Fleshspeakers' or 'Overseers', departed through the rift as well, perhaps eager to return to their work, or tinkering, back on the coast, working on their crab abominations, or perhaps any other project the flesh-shaping bat girls took on in the meantime.
Others remained. Narita wouldn't leave, and neither would Ekaterina, and even Lily, had something on her mind and chose to stay. Even Kirke and Arke stayed, though their sisters had left.
The swirling gap through space-time closed on itself, its headache inducing shifting patterns of impossible geometries of the broken space were increasingly more bearable than they were before, but I wasn't the only one getting used to the 'Displacers' and 'Warpstalkers' powers blatantly disregarding the laws of physics.
For a long time, Ari has been the only human capable of traversing those rifts with us without risking the nearly certain, or maybe completely certain, death. This, however, also changed.
We found there were more humans like her, perhaps without the unseen passenger lurking within the deep recesses of mind, but, nevertheless, still immune to the dangerous, and inherently deadly, side effects our magic had on humans by default.
A group of people who could be healed by 'Defilers' without the fear of pain, or reshaped by 'Fleshspeakers' without the risk of the permanent zombification-lite enthralment, and maybe, even immune to the intoxicating and extremely addictive 'berries' the 'Corruptors' had grown.
They were living proof that humans could coexist with my people, without the struggle, and without the endless cycle of violence plaguing us since my arrival in this world.
On the one hand, it was a tremendous success, now that I think of it - a change for peaceful existence grew closer. I did it. Now we knew not all humans suffered from the literal allergy to our magic.
On the other hand, the 'compatibility gene', or whatever the force, natural or supernatural, governing the said compatibility, certainly hasn't been universal.
Now, even if we knew for certain that those people existed, we still weren't any better equipped to spot them than we were a week ago - or yesterday for what mattered - we didn't even know what the 'gene' really was.
I didn't have any plan on how to go about it.
We only knew that people were immune, compatible when they didn't show any side effects, most of which were lethal. The 'Displacer' portals were out of the question. They were so far the deadliest, almost as if the shifting void beyond was inimical to human existence.
The safest method I thought of, and wasn't entirely convinced of, would involve either a dangerous dose of the addictive, stimulant 'berries' Lily created, or through exposing humans to the life-essence transfer by 'Defilers', with the latter of the two being extremely painful for ordinary humans.
My 'Defilers' could still heal deadly injuries at the cost of the disproportionate agony to the subject, even save humans from the brink, but unless we use it in emergencies where unbearable pain was preferable over death, we wouldn't be doing our image a favour.
Maybe Lily and her 'products' were the lesser evil of the two.
Her 'for-human-use-berries' were more like amphetamines, stimulants causing a strong dependency, but at least, their use was completely painless, preferable to the 'Defilers' breaking and mending the bones in seconds, again and again, until the body was left in the desired state, and the victim passed out from the pain.
To make matters worse, both methods were positively merciful compared to the effect the 'Fleshspeakers' could induce with the mere contact with their claws, permanently destroying the mind and enthralling the body to the whims of the anthropomorphic bats, where very muscle could be grafted together, reshaped into mindless servant drones, or even into the living armour.
The addictive properties of the 'berries' seemed to be a much lesser evil in comparison.
I looked at my bat girl.
She still wore that outfit which was clearly still alive, of flesh, and skin, and bones, and I doubted any human would choose to be a living dress.
They, I hoped, also didn't want pointless war.
"Master?"
Lily and Arke asked, speaking in unison, sensing I was thinking of them.
I would have to find another way. Both girls already thought of an excessive way to test the humans for resistances, with poisons, venoms, toxins and spores.
A brief glance at Kirke, a moth-girl, her attention currently elsewhere within the expanses of the host's telepathic connection, and I was certain she could make it worse. I didn't know if the 'Corruptors' did, but 'Mutators' could make aggressive fungus deadly.
I haven't exhausted all the options yet.
Perhaps the humans knew something. After all, they have a special class of people.
The dragons had their clergy, blessed with the mystical powers, while the 'elites' - or, rather 'Adepts' as the natives called them - were warriors of superhuman prowess, with enhanced durability, and capable of impossible feats.
Before we try anything else, we should find out how 'Adepts' were made, or priestesses are selected.
The 'Adepts' would be it, I decided. Our constant clashes with the dragon's followers proved that the powers the priestesses used were our bane, just like our own magic ruined the mundane humans.
The 'elites' - the 'Adepts' as the humans called them - might be stronger and faster than any ordinary human would have been. They didn't have sealing magic, and were 'merely' super-powered. Enhanced.
Maybe that was it.
"Are we absolutely certain we don't know how Adepts are made? Selected? Trained?" I wondered aloud, "No memories within the minds of those you puppeteer?"
"No, Master. Extraordinary warriors. Chosen. Special…" Arke answered, likely collecting the thoughts from the zombified humans, as she did with the language.
We know they were remarkable. The mundane humans couldn't run up vertical walls, jump several matters into the air, and so on.
I wondered if there was a process similar to ours. Who knew, maybe there were 'fruits' the humans fed to their 'elites', drugs, pills. Or perhaps it was an actual blessing given by the dragons after all, even if 'Lady' never mentioned it.
"Master?" Lily came close, her gaze met mine. She was interested in the concept, that was for certain.
While I doubted the 'elites' were simply on steroids, as the abilities were simply too superhuman, Lily blinked as her mind and likely understood the concept, possibly better than I.
Her reptilian eyes reminded me that Ari gained the same, after being exposed to the 'fruit of arcane' too.
It reminded me that the mutation was inevitable, even in a receptive human population, but it would be best if we understood the process before we committed to handing out the 'arcane fruits'. Since they were, obviously, intended as the equivalent of the natives selecting their priestesses, even though I didn't know how it worked.
Truly arcane.
The 'Lady' would know, but she wanted her clergy to have magical power again, and lacked the option to bestow them, even more so now she was forced to work under our mechanic, rather than the dragons'.
I wondered if she could see the status window too.
Nevermind, be as it may, I wouldn't spend all the previous 'arcane fruits' on Lady's followers, so they could, once again, have their magic.
Those were a limited resource, after all, and I didn't quite know where it came from, or how to get more, while there were literally thousands of my girls waiting for their enhancement, their evolution.
"Did we try to change any of the priests the Lady demanded?"
"No, Master."
"Let's postpone it a little then…"
"Yes, Master." Arke confirmed, flexing her wings and focusing her gaze somewhere on the horizon, likely issued the command to the rest of the 'Fleshspeakers'. The 'Lady' wouldn't be happy.
"Tell the Lady we don't know if it would …"
I paused.
"Belay that."
"Master?" The bat-girl's eyes snapped back into attention
This doesn't seem to be a good idea. The 'Lady', no longer the dragoness she used to be, but the new self, bound and twisted by our powers, may not like the fact that the zombification was a default application of the 'Fleshspeaker' powers.
It would imply we tried to brainwash her, which wasn't true. Her transformation was an accident I was neither able to predict nor understand.
She didn't like being 'my spawn' as she put it, even if her new form was, to my increasingly more prejudiced senses, more attractive.
Perhaps that was how it worked.
What if she could still grant powers, but only to my 'spawn', as she put it?
It could be a little push by the 'Fleshspeakers' is exactly what is needed. The fact she insisted on the changes was I hoped to ease my consciousness.
"Arke, go there to meet the Lady…" I said, paused, and after the brief consideration I decided on the opposite:
"... take the Defiler or the Devourer with you. Set up the process when you first infuse the small brief portion of the energy into the former priest. If it causes pain, he is rejected, and to be left alone. If it doesn't cause pain, you could adjust them as you did with the Ari and the volunteers."
"Yes, Master." Arke confirmed, her pointy ears perking up, and her cute snout showed a happy, inspired grin.
It was more than obvious that she couldn't wait and practically jumped on the opportunity to go, grabbing the new 'Displacer' so she could be teleported to the destination, that eager she was.
She disappeared into another rift in the canvas of space and time with a parting "We could make so many improvements!" on her lips.
I was hoping I would not regret my decision.
Though I wasn't entirely certain of it, there was this notion that the former priesthood of the 'Lady' was, somehow, surely immune - they survived the portals after all - and maybe, their successful transformation would give us some leeway with the dragoness.
Perhaps she would act as our 'detector' in the future.
The eagerness of the bat-girl was eerie though.
Surely, Arke wouldn't give human 'volunteers' tentacles. I glanced at Nereida, still levitating nearby, and mentally convinced myself that it wouldn't be a disaster. My 'Tidereavers' had tentacles, and they didn't look bad.
Nereida smiled.
Now, Lily and her 'special-chow' for humans…
Turning to my other reptilian companion, I said,
"And Lily, if possible, I want the supply of those berries for humans, and to find a way to preserve them."
"Yes, my Master. We are trying to pickle them." Lily replied, equally enthusiastic about the idea, but unlike Arke, the 'Corruptor Alpha' didn't depart to oversee the process personally.
I wasn't entirely certain what fermentation would cause to something which already had a narcotic property, but I tried to not think about it. I would, I supposed, stop the growing, or manufacture, of the stuff later if we found a better alternative.
We could, at least, have to either provide the free 'berries' to humans already addicted, or we have to find a way to force them through the detox later.
"Lily…" I asked, tentatively.
The 'Corruptor' looked at me, blinking, her dual eyelids once again noticeable.
"Please try to grow a special product that cleanses the organism from the usage of your berries…" I said, "For emergencies."
She thought about it.
"Something that would flush the effect out of their system?" I suggested, unsure if she understood what I asked, and then she nodded.
"Yes, my Master."
"In the worst-case scenario, Kirke helps you." I said, looking for the moth-girl, better suited for the task, "But first, get me the arcane fruit for Lily."
Kirke buzzed off, over the wall, as she could fly.
I, however, had to consider the alternate detection method, other than turning the humans into the test subjects for 'Corruptors'.
"First, I'll try to find out how Adepts are made…"
This was easier said than done.
The Viceroy might know.
However, since it was he who requested I empower his men, it was obvious he either didn't know how the process worked, or was at the very least unable to replicate it himself, expecting us to do it, and was even surprised at it.
My girls gave me this impression, at least.
"Master?" Miwah asked,
"Is the Viceroy around?"
"He is out, away in the city." She said, "Travelling on foot inconveniences him…"
Another reason why not to question him. It was mostly our fault that there were no horses left in the city, for him to ride, or to pull his carriage if he had one, or so on, and wasn't certain how would react to the constructs the 'Fleshspeakers' were making.
I, however, didn't have to include him, for now.
There was another option.
"Let's go give a sage a visit." I decided, freeing myself from the attention of Tama and Miwah.
Kasha, the 'personal Displacer' was slightly more clingy, but I didn't mind her holding my hand as I strode out of the ruined shrine, and through the overgrown, twisted garden filled with the otherworldly plants the 'Mutators' worked on.
There was also one of the two 'trees of arcane' we had.
I looked at it.
We shouldn't reveal those fruits grant powers.
Not yet, not now, when our agreement with the Viceroy, and even more the city itself, was uncertain I best. It would be a problem if he, or anyone else, tried to use them for their own ends, even if they were ultimately stopped by my girls.
We barely had a day in the city without any unrest.
Soon, Tama caught me, and hung onto my other arm, and we left the question of the arcane tree behind, for the time being. A quick discussion with the Sage was enough.
It wasn't going to be a long walk, anyway.
I just needed to find where the wise man was, which wasn't difficult, as the 'Eviscerators' watched him all the time.
It was logical to think that man didn't know all the secrets, but I presumed he had a well-rounded education and would be the one to offer advice to his liege. Additionally, he had been the most cooperative with us thus far.
"I suppose he still translates the scroll?" I asked, partially curious, partially to simply pass .
"Yes." Tama said, "Something about the fog that is the death of stars. My sister is writing it down."
A 'Purifier' becoming a scribe felt bizarre, but I supposed that someone has to make notes as the translation wasn't a straightforward process, I imagined, especially when our options were either the native tongue the local human spoke, incomprehensible to us, and some dead, mystical language the Scrolls used.
The Sage would benefit from the 'fruit of arcane', I realised. If instant understanding of the language was a consistent benefit, it was one hard to pass.
Unfortunately for us, though, he was too valuable to lose, or risk losing, and a deep understanding of the mechanics and pitfalls of the supposed 'compatibility gene' was a priority before even trying anything with the old man.
He might need a human assistant, I thought …
Perhaps a volunteer which we sent to guard the Viceroy could be spared?
I was about to ascend the stairs to the one building that was the palace's main living area when the system struck with the sudden notification I didn't expect.
I jerked in surprise at the sudden, unexpected floating window popping up in my field of view, along with the inevitable bursts of the ruby red fog from which my girls materialised into the physical existence, with the excited cry "For Master!" accompanied their summons.
Nine bat-girls, nine new 'Fleshspeakers' jumped around, trying to spread their wings in the limited space, and the rest of the retinue stepped back, giving them space. They occupied a lot of it.
I even stumbled backwards. It was only Tama's closeness that held me up and saved me from a tumble on the stone floor, even as a burst of the same fog materialised another monster girl in front of me. A big one.
"For Master!"
She cried, a freshly re-respawned 'Overseer', wrapping us - me, Tama and Kasha - in her wide, leathery wings, like they were a blanket, clearly excited to see me, again, after her violent rebirth.
"What's going on?" I demanded, confused and alarmed, as the previously dormant voices of the host grew louder in the reaction to what must have been an attack.
"For Master!"
She was unperturbed by the fact she had died in a collision with cordage…
What cordage?
The ability to understand their thoughts didn't make it any less confusing, as I couldn't wrap my mind around what had happened.
I let Tama go, and gently touched the sides of the chiropteran monster girl's head, looking in her eyes, as her mind wandered to the insane tangent on attacking ships with exploding leaping fishes, something which the new 'Fleshspeakers' were perfectly captivated in too.
The choir of whispers at the back of my head rose into the roar, as every single bat-girl inside the host answered. Their racing thoughts mixed with mine and networked minds became a little of the distraction, making it difficult to focus.
"What ship? What cordage?"
I asked, vocalising carefully, mostly to calm myself than the host.
My 'Overseers' - being giant, yet adorable, flying foxes - were as cute as they were eccentric, and their minds of boundless creativity and the unparalleled obsession in reshaping the world to their whims were hard to comprehend.
"For Master!"
I shook my head. Focus.
Speaking with the 'Fleshspeaker' or 'Overseer' about their demise meant being bombarded with the ideas of insane inventions to counter.
I understood they did attack the ship, at least, but before I could wrap my mind around the answer my power reacted with yet another notification accompanied with the bursts of the ruby red smoke from which new additions to our ever-growing horde had emerged.
The new 'Tidereavers' plummeted to the ground as their power drained the moisture from the air in order to maintain their levitation.
"For Master!"
They cried out, as only their 'Alpha' - currently preoccupied with managing whatever was happening right now.
I didn't quite understand what was going on, but one thing was certain - we were under attack again. Mere minutes ago, I contemplated how to avoid this continuous cycle of violence, and now there was yet another clash.
What was wrong with those people?
I looked away from the clingy bat-girl, and looked around, then gave up locating the 'Alpha' in question.
"Nereida! Go sort the ships out!I shouted, my voice suddenly raspy, "Make sure the other displacers send your sisters to the sea!"
"Yes, Master."
I ordered, while still in the embrace of the wings, and then touched the 'Overseer' bat.
"You go back too…"
My message to the neighbouring cities may not have come through to them just yet, but I still had to wonder why they were so insistent on attacking me.
"Wooden ships are quite flammable, Master. We may not need the bats…" Tama snickered, but I was having none of it.
The humans attacked us again, and I wanted the answers, especially after the rather disorienting non-explanation which the touched minds provided.
"No, capture as many as you can. Including ships…" was my decision, not quite thought through, and I nuzzled the nearby bat-girl away.
She fell through the rift as the 'Displacer' opened, giggling, and probably went sky-diving in the distant lands, or distant sea.
I turned towards the others: Tama, Miwah, Narita. Some of them owed me an explanation. Delivered in words, nor thoughts and concepts, I wouldn't be trying to get the full bearing of the situation from the host's link in the foreseeable future.
"Could you tell me exactly what happened?"
"Pirates, Master." Kirke said, still clutching the 'arcane fruit' she brought, originally intended for Lily. It has to wait.
Tama must have found the idea quite amusing, as the vixen giggled.
"Pirates? There are pirates? Why?" I queried, rather dumbly, regretting it, considering that it was quite a commonplace in the frequented sea routes of Earth, and this world doesn't need to be different. We just didn't know how far from those routes we were before.
But why now?
Were we that unlucky??
"The fishing village was in a panic over the ships on the horizon, Master." Miwah answered calmly and added: "Ari went to reason with them, but they were unapproachable and attacked, stabbing her."
"Stabbing her?"
I didn't know how she would converse with the ship on the horizon, but it didn't matter right now, as the idea of my spokeswomen being stabbed infuriated me even more. Wasn't she going to give birth to…
"She is healed. Now. Master." Narita assured me.
I was going to order something to discourage the precedent of attacking representatives, but the system and its notification were faster, and the mysterious fog was already forming a fresh addition to our growing horde.
"There were fourteen ships, Masters." Narita continued, her eyes fixated on the horizon. Her sisters were probably watching the situation from the shore.
"...the humans in the village were afraid that raiders were back and pleaded with us for help…"
"Fourteen ships?"
I didn't like this. This didn't sound like a random attack. Far from it. Fourteen ships were a small fleet, and I couldn't imagine that actual pirates operated like this. At least, that was what my limited knowledge of history told me.
This smelled like another dragon's sting.
"Thirteen … Twelve" Tama counted down, as the fog spat out 'Purifiers' and a new window proudly announced:
"We are dealing with them, Master."
Tama assured me, her gaze fixated on the horizon, her mind diving into the host telepathic network to assume command, while I remained confused, unable to grasp the magnitude of the situation.
How big was this force, really?
I had to see.
"Kasha, take me where I can see…" I ordered, and before I fully grasped how foolish the command was - it involved heights I was afraid of - I was already falling through the shifting void towards my destination.
I closed my eyes and held my 'personal Displacer' tightly. She approved of it.
Fortunately, Kasha proved to be quite reasonable this time, and our destination hasn't been somewhere high in the sky, or the tall cliff, but on the spot from which I could see the fishing village below, complete with the magically altered fields and the blackened tree symbolising our protection, as well as the wide sea beyond.
I still decided to hold on to my cat girl as I looked on the horizon.
Seeing it was not as helpful as I imagined.
There were indeed ships out there, in the distance, caught in the raging, physics defying waves below, and the circling shadows above, as more and more 'Fleshspeakers' descended upon them from portals that tore apart the sky, while the 'Tidereavers' turned the sea against them.
But, otherwise, there was very little to see, very little to do, aside of the distant shapes with the tilted square sails of the junks caught in the localised storm as the battle raged on and the fog spat out the occasional 'Fleshspeaker' ready to take off to rejoin the battle from which she perished.
A few of my little tentacled companions did appear, this time simply lifting themselves up in the humid air of the coast, to just do the same, interrupted by another notification as one junk in the distance was swallowed by the sea.
The new batch of my anthropomorphic octopi materialised from the ruby fog.
I ignored them and paid attention to the rest of my inner circle arriving.
While I knew next to nothing about sailing, or the sea-going vessels of these ancient times, or even the age of sail, I was certain those ships were not the small boats of fishermen.
Weren't such ships expensive to build?
This definitely didn't look like a random attack.
This smelled like the dragons' work, but there was no time to query how the 'Lady' and how her 'brothers' operated.
One ship broke away from the battle.
No, I thought of myself; they are not getting away.
"Get Sora here. I want that ship." I pointed, "Capture as many as you can…"
"For Master!" Kasha meowed, somewhat cute, yet with the conviction of her own.
I couldn't help myself but to feel a certain disappointment with Sora, considering how absent she was.
Perhaps Kasha would make a better 'Alpha'.
Then, however, the air below the hill we stood on swivelled, only for another 'Displacer' - or rather 'Warpstalker' portal since those were considerably bigger - opened, and something huge crashed into the coastal rice fields.
A message, along with the nine new cat girls, felt almost underwhelming compared to the sight they produced.
I blinked the notification away.
There was a ship about thirty metres long, a junk rig styled, very typical of Eastern Asia back on Earth, marooned on the relatively dry land, tilted on the side.
Sora and the two 'Warpstalker' waved to me from the deck.
Now they showed up…
Still, I couldn't help myself but to be impressed.
Nevermind.
I looked around.
"Disable all remaining ships. Roll their sails somehow, and have the Tidereavers carry them to the sea. Pick every single human that survived from the water, fish out the bodies as well."
I gestured towards the sea. The marooned ship likely didn't have any of the crew surviving after the trek through the void beyond the rifts, but there were more ships, some burned, some functional.
Not all the fleet sunk. There might be some vessels we could still use, assuming we had a crew which knew how to operate them.
"Be careful if some of those had the priestess onboard."
I waved around.
It was, however, still secondary to my desire for explanation.
"I want to know where they came from."
The 'crazy girl', as I once called her, was quickly growing to become a sorceress in her own right, I realised.
She couldn't replicate the barrier the humans used against us - likely because she lacked the formal training, or experience - but she certainly had magical powers. Blood magic, I suspected, wasn't the usual way the abilities manifested among the natives, but it has become more than obvious that Ari quickly became one of us, rather than remain of the humans born of this land.
I wasn't certain if it was a good thing, in the larger picture, but it certainly showed promise.
We could grant powers!
Albeit it wasn't exactly the same as the powers the human priestesses had, but it was, at the very least, the closest alternative we could manage, through the use of the 'fruits of arcane' as I dubbed the glowing, spiky produce.
I didn't plan to refer to Ari as a priestess, let alone my priestess - unlike the 'Lady' I wasn't interested in playing a god - but I couldn't deny the results.
We could, if Ari was any indicator, grant instantaneous knowledge of our language, all but removing the communication barrier there has been since our day one in this accursed world. All erased in nothing but a few seconds.
There hardly could be mistranslations this way, could there?
Would it, however, be enough to change the natives' behaviour?
For a while, I stood there, thinking, while Tama leaned closer, wrapping me up in their arms, and her fluffy fails, almost as if she wanted to assure me that she would always be on, and by, my side.
Miwah, too, stepped closer, protective as always, though her armour separated me from her softness and warmth, depriving me of a comfortable lean. I welcomed it, either way.
My 'personal Displacer' - or Kasha, as she has been freshly named - hung on me as well, not to be outdone by her larger, older, and significantly curvier cousins. She doesn't seem as prone to wander off as her sisters frequently did, and insisted she would stay. At least I could sense her intention through the link.
It almost invited the question if humans could be as comfortable with us as we were with each other and …
…there was this pesky thought about whether I was a human, whether memories of Earth I still held were even valid …
It was confusing, distracting even.
The girls found the idea of me being human laughable.
I still stared into space, or rather, the rubble of the ruined shrine, with its collapsed roof, shattered statues and broken wooden beams left in the wake of the Lady's rampage, now a silent milestone of progress.
Kuma sat down, picking through the rubble to pass the time, and absorbing the metal she found among the debris, though it was obvious she did so because of boredom rather than an interest in any gold or precious metals that might be there.
We weren't particularly interested in money, not if there weren't any places to spend them in. None that would do business with us rather than just forking over goods in terror, anyway.
Some of my girls, namely the 'Fleshspeakers' or 'Overseers', departed through the rift as well, perhaps eager to return to their work, or tinkering, back on the coast, working on their crab abominations, or perhaps any other project the flesh-shaping bat girls took on in the meantime.
Others remained. Narita wouldn't leave, and neither would Ekaterina, and even Lily, had something on her mind and chose to stay. Even Kirke and Arke stayed, though their sisters had left.
The swirling gap through space-time closed on itself, its headache inducing shifting patterns of impossible geometries of the broken space were increasingly more bearable than they were before, but I wasn't the only one getting used to the 'Displacers' and 'Warpstalkers' powers blatantly disregarding the laws of physics.
For a long time, Ari has been the only human capable of traversing those rifts with us without risking the nearly certain, or maybe completely certain, death. This, however, also changed.
We found there were more humans like her, perhaps without the unseen passenger lurking within the deep recesses of mind, but, nevertheless, still immune to the dangerous, and inherently deadly, side effects our magic had on humans by default.
A group of people who could be healed by 'Defilers' without the fear of pain, or reshaped by 'Fleshspeakers' without the risk of the permanent zombification-lite enthralment, and maybe, even immune to the intoxicating and extremely addictive 'berries' the 'Corruptors' had grown.
They were living proof that humans could coexist with my people, without the struggle, and without the endless cycle of violence plaguing us since my arrival in this world.
On the one hand, it was a tremendous success, now that I think of it - a change for peaceful existence grew closer. I did it. Now we knew not all humans suffered from the literal allergy to our magic.
On the other hand, the 'compatibility gene', or whatever the force, natural or supernatural, governing the said compatibility, certainly hasn't been universal.
Now, even if we knew for certain that those people existed, we still weren't any better equipped to spot them than we were a week ago - or yesterday for what mattered - we didn't even know what the 'gene' really was.
I didn't have any plan on how to go about it.
We only knew that people were immune, compatible when they didn't show any side effects, most of which were lethal. The 'Displacer' portals were out of the question. They were so far the deadliest, almost as if the shifting void beyond was inimical to human existence.
The safest method I thought of, and wasn't entirely convinced of, would involve either a dangerous dose of the addictive, stimulant 'berries' Lily created, or through exposing humans to the life-essence transfer by 'Defilers', with the latter of the two being extremely painful for ordinary humans.
My 'Defilers' could still heal deadly injuries at the cost of the disproportionate agony to the subject, even save humans from the brink, but unless we use it in emergencies where unbearable pain was preferable over death, we wouldn't be doing our image a favour.
Maybe Lily and her 'products' were the lesser evil of the two.
Her 'for-human-use-berries' were more like amphetamines, stimulants causing a strong dependency, but at least, their use was completely painless, preferable to the 'Defilers' breaking and mending the bones in seconds, again and again, until the body was left in the desired state, and the victim passed out from the pain.
To make matters worse, both methods were positively merciful compared to the effect the 'Fleshspeakers' could induce with the mere contact with their claws, permanently destroying the mind and enthralling the body to the whims of the anthropomorphic bats, where very muscle could be grafted together, reshaped into mindless servant drones, or even into the living armour.
The addictive properties of the 'berries' seemed to be a much lesser evil in comparison.
I looked at my bat girl.
She still wore that outfit which was clearly still alive, of flesh, and skin, and bones, and I doubted any human would choose to be a living dress.
They, I hoped, also didn't want pointless war.
"Master?"
Lily and Arke asked, speaking in unison, sensing I was thinking of them.
I would have to find another way. Both girls already thought of an excessive way to test the humans for resistances, with poisons, venoms, toxins and spores.
A brief glance at Kirke, a moth-girl, her attention currently elsewhere within the expanses of the host's telepathic connection, and I was certain she could make it worse. I didn't know if the 'Corruptors' did, but 'Mutators' could make aggressive fungus deadly.
I haven't exhausted all the options yet.
Perhaps the humans knew something. After all, they have a special class of people.
The dragons had their clergy, blessed with the mystical powers, while the 'elites' - or, rather 'Adepts' as the natives called them - were warriors of superhuman prowess, with enhanced durability, and capable of impossible feats.
Before we try anything else, we should find out how 'Adepts' were made, or priestesses are selected.
The 'Adepts' would be it, I decided. Our constant clashes with the dragon's followers proved that the powers the priestesses used were our bane, just like our own magic ruined the mundane humans.
The 'elites' - the 'Adepts' as the humans called them - might be stronger and faster than any ordinary human would have been. They didn't have sealing magic, and were 'merely' super-powered. Enhanced.
Maybe that was it.
"Are we absolutely certain we don't know how Adepts are made? Selected? Trained?" I wondered aloud, "No memories within the minds of those you puppeteer?"
"No, Master. Extraordinary warriors. Chosen. Special…" Arke answered, likely collecting the thoughts from the zombified humans, as she did with the language.
We know they were remarkable. The mundane humans couldn't run up vertical walls, jump several matters into the air, and so on.
I wondered if there was a process similar to ours. Who knew, maybe there were 'fruits' the humans fed to their 'elites', drugs, pills. Or perhaps it was an actual blessing given by the dragons after all, even if 'Lady' never mentioned it.
"Master?" Lily came close, her gaze met mine. She was interested in the concept, that was for certain.
While I doubted the 'elites' were simply on steroids, as the abilities were simply too superhuman, Lily blinked as her mind and likely understood the concept, possibly better than I.
Her reptilian eyes reminded me that Ari gained the same, after being exposed to the 'fruit of arcane' too.
It reminded me that the mutation was inevitable, even in a receptive human population, but it would be best if we understood the process before we committed to handing out the 'arcane fruits'. Since they were, obviously, intended as the equivalent of the natives selecting their priestesses, even though I didn't know how it worked.
Truly arcane.
The 'Lady' would know, but she wanted her clergy to have magical power again, and lacked the option to bestow them, even more so now she was forced to work under our mechanic, rather than the dragons'.
I wondered if she could see the status window too.
Nevermind, be as it may, I wouldn't spend all the previous 'arcane fruits' on Lady's followers, so they could, once again, have their magic.
Those were a limited resource, after all, and I didn't quite know where it came from, or how to get more, while there were literally thousands of my girls waiting for their enhancement, their evolution.
"Did we try to change any of the priests the Lady demanded?"
"No, Master."
"Let's postpone it a little then…"
"Yes, Master." Arke confirmed, flexing her wings and focusing her gaze somewhere on the horizon, likely issued the command to the rest of the 'Fleshspeakers'. The 'Lady' wouldn't be happy.
"Tell the Lady we don't know if it would …"
I paused.
"Belay that."
"Master?" The bat-girl's eyes snapped back into attention
This doesn't seem to be a good idea. The 'Lady', no longer the dragoness she used to be, but the new self, bound and twisted by our powers, may not like the fact that the zombification was a default application of the 'Fleshspeaker' powers.
It would imply we tried to brainwash her, which wasn't true. Her transformation was an accident I was neither able to predict nor understand.
She didn't like being 'my spawn' as she put it, even if her new form was, to my increasingly more prejudiced senses, more attractive.
Perhaps that was how it worked.
What if she could still grant powers, but only to my 'spawn', as she put it?
It could be a little push by the 'Fleshspeakers' is exactly what is needed. The fact she insisted on the changes was I hoped to ease my consciousness.
"Arke, go there to meet the Lady…" I said, paused, and after the brief consideration I decided on the opposite:
"... take the Defiler or the Devourer with you. Set up the process when you first infuse the small brief portion of the energy into the former priest. If it causes pain, he is rejected, and to be left alone. If it doesn't cause pain, you could adjust them as you did with the Ari and the volunteers."
"Yes, Master." Arke confirmed, her pointy ears perking up, and her cute snout showed a happy, inspired grin.
It was more than obvious that she couldn't wait and practically jumped on the opportunity to go, grabbing the new 'Displacer' so she could be teleported to the destination, that eager she was.
She disappeared into another rift in the canvas of space and time with a parting "We could make so many improvements!" on her lips.
I was hoping I would not regret my decision.
Though I wasn't entirely certain of it, there was this notion that the former priesthood of the 'Lady' was, somehow, surely immune - they survived the portals after all - and maybe, their successful transformation would give us some leeway with the dragoness.
Perhaps she would act as our 'detector' in the future.
The eagerness of the bat-girl was eerie though.
Surely, Arke wouldn't give human 'volunteers' tentacles. I glanced at Nereida, still levitating nearby, and mentally convinced myself that it wouldn't be a disaster. My 'Tidereavers' had tentacles, and they didn't look bad.
Nereida smiled.
Now, Lily and her 'special-chow' for humans…
Turning to my other reptilian companion, I said,
"And Lily, if possible, I want the supply of those berries for humans, and to find a way to preserve them."
"Yes, my Master. We are trying to pickle them." Lily replied, equally enthusiastic about the idea, but unlike Arke, the 'Corruptor Alpha' didn't depart to oversee the process personally.
I wasn't entirely certain what fermentation would cause to something which already had a narcotic property, but I tried to not think about it. I would, I supposed, stop the growing, or manufacture, of the stuff later if we found a better alternative.
We could, at least, have to either provide the free 'berries' to humans already addicted, or we have to find a way to force them through the detox later.
"Lily…" I asked, tentatively.
The 'Corruptor' looked at me, blinking, her dual eyelids once again noticeable.
"Please try to grow a special product that cleanses the organism from the usage of your berries…" I said, "For emergencies."
She thought about it.
"Something that would flush the effect out of their system?" I suggested, unsure if she understood what I asked, and then she nodded.
"Yes, my Master."
"In the worst-case scenario, Kirke helps you." I said, looking for the moth-girl, better suited for the task, "But first, get me the arcane fruit for Lily."
Kirke buzzed off, over the wall, as she could fly.
I, however, had to consider the alternate detection method, other than turning the humans into the test subjects for 'Corruptors'.
"First, I'll try to find out how Adepts are made…"
This was easier said than done.
The Viceroy might know.
However, since it was he who requested I empower his men, it was obvious he either didn't know how the process worked, or was at the very least unable to replicate it himself, expecting us to do it, and was even surprised at it.
My girls gave me this impression, at least.
"Master?" Miwah asked,
"Is the Viceroy around?"
"He is out, away in the city." She said, "Travelling on foot inconveniences him…"
Another reason why not to question him. It was mostly our fault that there were no horses left in the city, for him to ride, or to pull his carriage if he had one, or so on, and wasn't certain how would react to the constructs the 'Fleshspeakers' were making.
I, however, didn't have to include him, for now.
There was another option.
"Let's go give a sage a visit." I decided, freeing myself from the attention of Tama and Miwah.
Kasha, the 'personal Displacer' was slightly more clingy, but I didn't mind her holding my hand as I strode out of the ruined shrine, and through the overgrown, twisted garden filled with the otherworldly plants the 'Mutators' worked on.
There was also one of the two 'trees of arcane' we had.
I looked at it.
We shouldn't reveal those fruits grant powers.
Not yet, not now, when our agreement with the Viceroy, and even more the city itself, was uncertain I best. It would be a problem if he, or anyone else, tried to use them for their own ends, even if they were ultimately stopped by my girls.
We barely had a day in the city without any unrest.
Soon, Tama caught me, and hung onto my other arm, and we left the question of the arcane tree behind, for the time being. A quick discussion with the Sage was enough.
It wasn't going to be a long walk, anyway.
I just needed to find where the wise man was, which wasn't difficult, as the 'Eviscerators' watched him all the time.
It was logical to think that man didn't know all the secrets, but I presumed he had a well-rounded education and would be the one to offer advice to his liege. Additionally, he had been the most cooperative with us thus far.
"I suppose he still translates the scroll?" I asked, partially curious, partially to simply pass .
"Yes." Tama said, "Something about the fog that is the death of stars. My sister is writing it down."
A 'Purifier' becoming a scribe felt bizarre, but I supposed that someone has to make notes as the translation wasn't a straightforward process, I imagined, especially when our options were either the native tongue the local human spoke, incomprehensible to us, and some dead, mystical language the Scrolls used.
The Sage would benefit from the 'fruit of arcane', I realised. If instant understanding of the language was a consistent benefit, it was one hard to pass.
Unfortunately for us, though, he was too valuable to lose, or risk losing, and a deep understanding of the mechanics and pitfalls of the supposed 'compatibility gene' was a priority before even trying anything with the old man.
He might need a human assistant, I thought …
Perhaps a volunteer which we sent to guard the Viceroy could be spared?
I was about to ascend the stairs to the one building that was the palace's main living area when the system struck with the sudden notification I didn't expect.
| Skill "Messengers of the Ever-Living Horde Lvl.22" gained. |
I jerked in surprise at the sudden, unexpected floating window popping up in my field of view, along with the inevitable bursts of the ruby red fog from which my girls materialised into the physical existence, with the excited cry "For Master!" accompanied their summons.
Nine bat-girls, nine new 'Fleshspeakers' jumped around, trying to spread their wings in the limited space, and the rest of the retinue stepped back, giving them space. They occupied a lot of it.
I even stumbled backwards. It was only Tama's closeness that held me up and saved me from a tumble on the stone floor, even as a burst of the same fog materialised another monster girl in front of me. A big one.
"For Master!"
She cried, a freshly re-respawned 'Overseer', wrapping us - me, Tama and Kasha - in her wide, leathery wings, like they were a blanket, clearly excited to see me, again, after her violent rebirth.
"What's going on?" I demanded, confused and alarmed, as the previously dormant voices of the host grew louder in the reaction to what must have been an attack.
"For Master!"
She was unperturbed by the fact she had died in a collision with cordage…
What cordage?
The ability to understand their thoughts didn't make it any less confusing, as I couldn't wrap my mind around what had happened.
I let Tama go, and gently touched the sides of the chiropteran monster girl's head, looking in her eyes, as her mind wandered to the insane tangent on attacking ships with exploding leaping fishes, something which the new 'Fleshspeakers' were perfectly captivated in too.
The choir of whispers at the back of my head rose into the roar, as every single bat-girl inside the host answered. Their racing thoughts mixed with mine and networked minds became a little of the distraction, making it difficult to focus.
"What ship? What cordage?"
I asked, vocalising carefully, mostly to calm myself than the host.
My 'Overseers' - being giant, yet adorable, flying foxes - were as cute as they were eccentric, and their minds of boundless creativity and the unparalleled obsession in reshaping the world to their whims were hard to comprehend.
"For Master!"
I shook my head. Focus.
Speaking with the 'Fleshspeaker' or 'Overseer' about their demise meant being bombarded with the ideas of insane inventions to counter.
I understood they did attack the ship, at least, but before I could wrap my mind around the answer my power reacted with yet another notification accompanied with the bursts of the ruby red smoke from which new additions to our ever-growing horde had emerged.
| Skill "Terror From the Abyss lvl.4" gained. |
The new 'Tidereavers' plummeted to the ground as their power drained the moisture from the air in order to maintain their levitation.
"For Master!"
They cried out, as only their 'Alpha' - currently preoccupied with managing whatever was happening right now.
I didn't quite understand what was going on, but one thing was certain - we were under attack again. Mere minutes ago, I contemplated how to avoid this continuous cycle of violence, and now there was yet another clash.
What was wrong with those people?
I looked away from the clingy bat-girl, and looked around, then gave up locating the 'Alpha' in question.
"Nereida! Go sort the ships out!I shouted, my voice suddenly raspy, "Make sure the other displacers send your sisters to the sea!"
"Yes, Master."
I ordered, while still in the embrace of the wings, and then touched the 'Overseer' bat.
"You go back too…"
My message to the neighbouring cities may not have come through to them just yet, but I still had to wonder why they were so insistent on attacking me.
"Wooden ships are quite flammable, Master. We may not need the bats…" Tama snickered, but I was having none of it.
The humans attacked us again, and I wanted the answers, especially after the rather disorienting non-explanation which the touched minds provided.
"No, capture as many as you can. Including ships…" was my decision, not quite thought through, and I nuzzled the nearby bat-girl away.
She fell through the rift as the 'Displacer' opened, giggling, and probably went sky-diving in the distant lands, or distant sea.
I turned towards the others: Tama, Miwah, Narita. Some of them owed me an explanation. Delivered in words, nor thoughts and concepts, I wouldn't be trying to get the full bearing of the situation from the host's link in the foreseeable future.
"Could you tell me exactly what happened?"
"Pirates, Master." Kirke said, still clutching the 'arcane fruit' she brought, originally intended for Lily. It has to wait.
Tama must have found the idea quite amusing, as the vixen giggled.
"Pirates? There are pirates? Why?" I queried, rather dumbly, regretting it, considering that it was quite a commonplace in the frequented sea routes of Earth, and this world doesn't need to be different. We just didn't know how far from those routes we were before.
But why now?
Were we that unlucky??
"The fishing village was in a panic over the ships on the horizon, Master." Miwah answered calmly and added: "Ari went to reason with them, but they were unapproachable and attacked, stabbing her."
"Stabbing her?"
I didn't know how she would converse with the ship on the horizon, but it didn't matter right now, as the idea of my spokeswomen being stabbed infuriated me even more. Wasn't she going to give birth to…
"She is healed. Now. Master." Narita assured me.
I was going to order something to discourage the precedent of attacking representatives, but the system and its notification were faster, and the mysterious fog was already forming a fresh addition to our growing horde.
| Skill "Terror From the Abyss lvl.5" gained. |
"There were fourteen ships, Masters." Narita continued, her eyes fixated on the horizon. Her sisters were probably watching the situation from the shore.
"...the humans in the village were afraid that raiders were back and pleaded with us for help…"
"Fourteen ships?"
I didn't like this. This didn't sound like a random attack. Far from it. Fourteen ships were a small fleet, and I couldn't imagine that actual pirates operated like this. At least, that was what my limited knowledge of history told me.
This smelled like another dragon's sting.
"Thirteen … Twelve" Tama counted down, as the fog spat out 'Purifiers' and a new window proudly announced:
| Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.39" gained. |
"We are dealing with them, Master."
Tama assured me, her gaze fixated on the horizon, her mind diving into the host telepathic network to assume command, while I remained confused, unable to grasp the magnitude of the situation.
How big was this force, really?
I had to see.
"Kasha, take me where I can see…" I ordered, and before I fully grasped how foolish the command was - it involved heights I was afraid of - I was already falling through the shifting void towards my destination.
I closed my eyes and held my 'personal Displacer' tightly. She approved of it.
Fortunately, Kasha proved to be quite reasonable this time, and our destination hasn't been somewhere high in the sky, or the tall cliff, but on the spot from which I could see the fishing village below, complete with the magically altered fields and the blackened tree symbolising our protection, as well as the wide sea beyond.
I still decided to hold on to my cat girl as I looked on the horizon.
Seeing it was not as helpful as I imagined.
There were indeed ships out there, in the distance, caught in the raging, physics defying waves below, and the circling shadows above, as more and more 'Fleshspeakers' descended upon them from portals that tore apart the sky, while the 'Tidereavers' turned the sea against them.
But, otherwise, there was very little to see, very little to do, aside of the distant shapes with the tilted square sails of the junks caught in the localised storm as the battle raged on and the fog spat out the occasional 'Fleshspeaker' ready to take off to rejoin the battle from which she perished.
A few of my little tentacled companions did appear, this time simply lifting themselves up in the humid air of the coast, to just do the same, interrupted by another notification as one junk in the distance was swallowed by the sea.
| Skill "Terror From the Abyss lvl.6" gained. |
The new batch of my anthropomorphic octopi materialised from the ruby fog.
I ignored them and paid attention to the rest of my inner circle arriving.
While I knew next to nothing about sailing, or the sea-going vessels of these ancient times, or even the age of sail, I was certain those ships were not the small boats of fishermen.
Weren't such ships expensive to build?
This definitely didn't look like a random attack.
This smelled like the dragons' work, but there was no time to query how the 'Lady' and how her 'brothers' operated.
One ship broke away from the battle.
No, I thought of myself; they are not getting away.
"Get Sora here. I want that ship." I pointed, "Capture as many as you can…"
"For Master!" Kasha meowed, somewhat cute, yet with the conviction of her own.
I couldn't help myself but to feel a certain disappointment with Sora, considering how absent she was.
Perhaps Kasha would make a better 'Alpha'.
Then, however, the air below the hill we stood on swivelled, only for another 'Displacer' - or rather 'Warpstalker' portal since those were considerably bigger - opened, and something huge crashed into the coastal rice fields.
A message, along with the nine new cat girls, felt almost underwhelming compared to the sight they produced.
| Skill "Stalker on the Boundary lvl. 11" gained. |
I blinked the notification away.
There was a ship about thirty metres long, a junk rig styled, very typical of Eastern Asia back on Earth, marooned on the relatively dry land, tilted on the side.
Sora and the two 'Warpstalker' waved to me from the deck.
Now they showed up…
Still, I couldn't help myself but to be impressed.
Nevermind.
I looked around.
"Disable all remaining ships. Roll their sails somehow, and have the Tidereavers carry them to the sea. Pick every single human that survived from the water, fish out the bodies as well."
I gestured towards the sea. The marooned ship likely didn't have any of the crew surviving after the trek through the void beyond the rifts, but there were more ships, some burned, some functional.
Not all the fleet sunk. There might be some vessels we could still use, assuming we had a crew which knew how to operate them.
"Be careful if some of those had the priestess onboard."
I waved around.
It was, however, still secondary to my desire for explanation.
"I want to know where they came from."
